'Love at First Sight' Makes an Airport Meet-Cute Look Magical
Airports and airplanes are typically known for feeling cold, sterile, and uncomfortable. In the recently released rom-com Love at First Sight, those mundane spaces actually seem cozy, pleasant, and even charming—making the story all the more aspirational.
The movie follows Hadley (played by The White Lotus star Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver (played by Ben Hardy) who have the meet-cute many travelers dream of: They fall in love on a flight, from New York to London in their case. While the scenario would look a little less dreamy in real life, Love at First Sight makes the fate-centric tale feel magical through color.
"We wanted to create a heightened world," director Vanessa Caswill tells House Beautiful, noting how the color palette played a crucial part. "We were inspired by modern airplanes having quite funky colors in their lighting design."
The production team tapped London Stansted Airport for the film’s initial scenes, according to The Messenger. To make the location feel more welcoming, the team led by production designer Francesca Massariol added colorful patterned carpeting, upholstered seating, and vinyl to the windows and floors. Vibrant blue star and silver snowflake decorations hang in the dining area, where Hadley and Oliver essentially have their first date, giving it a much more enchanting feel than most airport cafeterias.
The settings come off as futuristic and of a past era. While the dining tables have built-in charging ports and there's a gate-adjacent, pink-and-red charging station, the rust orange and emerald shades found in the fabrics hark back to the ‘70s. The overall comfort is reminiscent of the once-bustling TWA Flight Center, which opened in 1962, with its vibrant red carpeting and plush conversation-pit-style seating.
Lighting also plays a crucial role in developing an inviting atmosphere, especially on the plane where electric blue, sunset orange, and soft pink lights dominate. "You initially have a cooler tone [on the plane], which suggests a distance between them, and it gets warmer and warmer and warmer," cinematographer Luke Bryant told The Messenger. "The moment they have the closest connection, we [switched to] pink light and it becomes our running motif throughout the film."
"When Hadley and Oliver nearly kiss on the plane, it is lit so it could almost feel like a dark corner of a nightclub," Caswill tells HB of the use of colored lighting to increasingly make the plane feel more intimate as the night goes on.
With strategic color plays, Love at First Sight proves even the dullest settings can become delightful spots for budding romance. It may be time to start a petition to make all airports look this cozy!
If you've been eyeing the other lovely locations in the movie, you're not alone. Some of the London-based places include the Bloomsbury Hotel, where Hadley's dad's wedding takes place; Queen's House, where the wedding reception is held (Caswill notes the museum has "incredible views of the city yet isn't overused on-screen"); and the Battersea Arts Centre, where Oliver's mom's memorial occurs. (Dried flowers were used to give the memorial a "quality of decay, a sense of death within the design [that still] held onto the beauty of the moment," Caswill says.) London, a design lover's paradise, never ceases to provide dream backdrops!
You love film sets. So do we. Let’s obsess over them together.
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.
You Might Also Like
